The City As Startup

Detroit appears to be in hospice. The city's bankruptcy in July unleashed a torrent of commentary on the origins and causes of its decline. It could have been the cold. No universities. It could have been corruption. No creative class. It could have been a brittle dependence on an auto industry now hollowed out. The striking thing is that it is not uncommon to hear people discussing an event that neither nuclear bombs nor natural disasters nor communism could completely bring about: the death of...